Feel the Heat
by Vengeful
Summary: Tony's comment about body heat makes Kate realize that maybe her feeling for him run a little deeper then she thought. This is what might have happened after Paraguay. Tate


**A/N: Well folks, the last episode inspired me to write my first NCIS Tate fic. Hopefully it's not too terrible. Remember, review!**

**Emily**

**Disclaimer:** Nope… as of right now I own nothing.

**Edited 6/8/08. Some grammar fixed, and a very scary part in which Abby becomes Psychic has been elaborated, so as to eliminate the psychic angle. **

* * *

Kate's heart pounded as his lips gently brushed hers. Here she was, kissing the person she swore she wouldn't fall for. Here she was, letting her heart slip out of control. Her mind raced, looking back on the events that had led to this moment.

* * *

It had started in the car, during the stakeout, when he had made that comment about body heat. She tried her hardest to ignore it, but she was unable too just shrug it off. She was glad that Tony couldn't see the bright red color on her cheeks. She knew he had just been joking, but still, just the thought of sharing body heat with her attractive colleague was enough to put her imagination in overdrive. The sound of the gunshot going off had been a savior for her, for she had been about to give in to the tempting offer.

The next few days were hellish, to say the least. She could feel the heat rise to her cheeks whenever she looked at him. The icing on the cake had been when he made that comment about liking brunettes. That one had really done her in.

* * *

He deepened the kiss, his tongue gently seeking entrance to her mouth. She eagerly responded, wrapping her arms around him and pulling him closer. Her doubt flew out the window as she allowed the kiss to deepen.

* * *

It was in Paraguay that she realized just how deep her feelings for him ran. When she found that they were to go down to Paraguay together, her first thought was, "oh crap." The thought of spending time alone with Tony with no Gibbs was scary, yet at the same time, oh so tempting. She was still trying to figure out what she was feeling for him. Now she was going to spend time alone with him, which certainly would not help her figure out her feelings.

But she couldn't just tell him no: she didn't want to give him any hint that she might think of him as more then just an annoying colleague. Hell, she was surprised that he still hadn't figured it out. She'd only been acting like a schoolgirl with a crush since the whole "car incident".

The case itself had been fine. Kate had managed to control herself while they were working. It was after the case, when someone had mistaken them for a couple that everything got screwed up.

They were checking out of the small hotel when an English-speaking employee had approached them.

"I hope you two enjoyed your stay. Did you see much of the city?" They glanced at each other. The man misinterpreted the look they shared to be guilt. He grinned.

"Oh I see, spend most of the time in the hotel did you?" he said with a suggestive wink. Tony of course decided to play along. He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close to him.

"We saw enough," he said with a laugh. Kate forced a smile and wrapped an arm around him.

'I am so gonna kill him when we are alone,' she thought to herself.

"How long have you been together?" wondered the man.

"It'll be six months in a week. Isn't that right babe?" he replied.

"That's right baby," Kate said, trying not to laugh. Tony, dating the same person for six months, yeah, right. Okay, so the thought of being with Tony for that long was sort of appealing. Ok, so it was appealing as hell. But that would never happen. Tony most definitely wasn't interested in her that way.

He thoughts were stopped as Tony leaned over and kissed her fully on the lips. She responded, not quite sure what was going on. He pulled back and smiled at her. She blushed as she realized that the man was still watching them. The man's grin widened.

"I'm glad to see two people so in love," he stated. "It's hard to find that now a days." He glanced at his watch. "Well, I've got to go. Hope you two have a long life together," he said. Kate just nodded, not quite trusting her voice. As soon as the man was out of sight, she turned towards Tony.

"What the hell was that?" she snapped. He laughed.

"I was just playing along."

"Why?"

"Aww come on Kate, you enjoyed it and you know it." Kate smacked his arm lightly.

"You are such a pig," she grumbled. The truth was that she had thoroughly enjoyed that kiss, but she was not about to voice that opinion out loud. The flight back had been relatively uneventful. Tony had spent the flight sleeping, leaving Kate to investigate her feelings for him. He was a good looking man-that could not be denied. So was her attraction towards him purely physical? Or did it run deeper then that?

She was all too happy to get home and to get away from Tony. She didn't need him to confuse her even more, though it was a little late for that. When he had kissed her, she had all but collapsed into his arms. The man knew how to kiss, that was for sure. She drew up a warm bath, emerging herself in scented bath salts. She knew she had to figure this out soon. If she didn't, everyone would surely figure it out. She was pretty sure Abby already suspected that her feelings for Tony were a bit more complicated then Kate let on. She had hinted on more than one occasion that she thought that he would be good for her. She closed her eyes and groaned, wondering why her love life had to be so complicated.

The next day at the NCIS building, she was immediately grilled by Abby about the trip.

"So…"

"So what? We were working." Abby rolled her eyes.

"Come on Kate, everyone knows that its just a matter of time before you and Tony get together." Kate glared at her.

"Whatever. I've got to go. Later," she said, walking off. On her way out, she bumped into Tony.

"Where's the fire?" he joked.

"Very funny," she snapped, her tone warning him that she wasn't in the mood. As she left, He looked at Abby.

"What's her problem?"

Abby shrugged. "I don't know, maybe you should ask her."

Kate spent the rest of the day doing paper work, something that usually would have annoyed her, but today she was glad for the peace. With the permission of Gibbs, she left to go home almost immediately after the paperwork was finished.

It was an hour after she got home when she heard the doorbell. She opened her door, expecting to see Abby. To her surprise, it was Tony.

"Hey," he said.

"Um, hi. What are you doing here?" she wondered.

"Just came to check up on you. You seemed a bit off at work."

"Did Gibbs send you or something?"

"No, I came on my own." Kate was taken aback by his words, though it touched her that he would do something like that.

"Well, come in I guess," she said. He grinned at her, and she wondered if her knew just what that grin could do to her.

"Have you eaten yet?" he asked, taking notice of the dishes that were out in the kitchen.

"Not yet. You want something?"

"Sure. Unless its poisoned or something."

She laughed as she went about finishing dinner. The two fell into their usual flirtatious banter as they ate, which put Kate at ease. After everything was put away, they went into the living room.

"Want to watch something?" she asked, not quite wanting him to leave. He shrugged.

"Sure."

She held up a movie and he nodded, positioning himself on the couch. By the end of the movie, Kate was sleeping and had moved up next to him. She stirred, waking up at the end. She blushed as she realized her position. She looked up at Tony and was surprised to find a look of contentment on his face.

"Guess I moved," she said softly.

"Guess you do." They looked at each of for a split second, and Kate saw something in his eyes she had never before seen. Slowly, he leaned down and brushed his lips against hers. He pulled back to see her reaction. She just smiled and leaned up, giving him another kiss. The kisses soon escalated, and now here they were, kissing on Kate's couch.

As his hands grazed her sides, Kate knew that she should stop and see just what this meant before they went any further. She reluctantly pulled back.

"What's wrong?" asked Tony. Kate glanced down at her hands.

"It's just, well, just what are we doing Tony?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Well we were kissing on your couch…"

She glared at him.

"I mean what does this mean? Are we just doing this as a one-time thing or what? Because none of us can keep someone for very long…"

He gently pressed a finger to her lips. "I was hoping this might be kind of a long time thing," he said. He smiled slightly at her shocked expression. "If you haven't noticed Kate, I like you." A smile spread across her face.

"I like you too." She giggled. "God, I feel like I am back in high school or something." He laughed and gave her a kiss. She looked at him. "So does that mean we are dating?" she wondered.

"Yeah, I hope so," he replied. She smiled widely.

"Well then, I think we were in the middle of something," she said, untangling herself from Tony and standing up. He looked at her.

"Where are you going?" She winked at him.

"Well, the couch isn't very comfy now is it?" She let out a squeal as he scooped her up, kissing her softly as he carried her towards her room.

Later, as they laid amonst her sweaty bedsheets, both wearing large smiles, Tony looked at her.

"Hey Kate?"

"Yeah?"

"Now that we have figured out that we are dating, who's going to tell Gibbs?"

The next day, they arrived at work together, hoping to talk to Gibbs before anyone else came in. But before they could get to him, Abby stopped them. She took one look over the two and smirked.

"You two are dating each other, aren't you?" she asked.

Somewhat taken aback by her quick assessment, Kate could only ask, "how in the Hell did you know?" Really, it was somewhat creepy that Abby had only given the new couple a coursery glance before stating her observation.

"You have a very special color of lipstick. You know, that one that you obsess over. Unless Tony has decided on a sex-change, and is trying out lip colors..."

"Damn, Tony, I thought I told you to clean yourself up," hissed Kate.

"Well, it's not my fault that your lip shit is made of, like, permanent marker wax stuff," he retorted.

"As much as I'd like to sit around and watch this fascinating courtship, tell me… when did this happen?"

"When did what happen?" they whirled around only to come face to face with Gibbs.

"Well, uh…" Tony started.

"We umm…" stumbled Kate.

Abby rolled her eyes. "They're dating."

Gibbs looked at them for a moment.

"When did this happen."

"Last night," admitted Tony.

"Ha! You owe me fifty bucks," said Abby, turning towards. Gibbs.

"What do you mean?" asked Kate. Abby and Gibbs exchanged a guilty look.

"We might have bet on how long until you two got together," admitted Gibbs.

"So, your not mad at us?" asked Kate, shocked that he wouldn't kill them both but relieved for the same reason. Gibbs shrugged.

"I will be if you two stop doing your jobs. Speaking of which, I just got a call. We're leaving in ten minutes and you better be ready." He turned towards Abby.

"Remember Gibbs-50 dollars," she said. He groaned as he walked towards his office, Abby in tow. Kate and Tony looked at each other.

"Well, that was…"

"Surprising," finished Kate. He nodded.

"Yeah. Surprising. But good."

"Definitely good," agreed Kate. "Though it wont be good if we don't get moving." Tony looked around. Spotting no one, he leaned down and kissed her gently.

"No Kissing at work." They broke apart at the sound of Gibb's voice.

"I swear that man has camera's everywhere monitoring our every move," grumbled Kate as she and Tony walked off to the car.

* * *

**Twelve Months later.**

Kate smiled as she felt the warm sun shining down on her. The soft crash of waves on the sand soothed her. She couldn't believe that she was here, in the tropics, where she had always wanted to be.

"Having fun?" She opened her eyes at the sound of the familiar voice. Tony sat down besides her, taking her hand in his. Her wedding band sparkled in the sun, reminding her just how lucky she was. She smiled up at her husband.

"I always did want to go to the tropics."

He chuckled and leaned down to kiss her. "And the best part is no Gibbs."

She laughed as she remembered all the times that Gibbs had yelled at them for kissing on the job. He gently took her hand and got up, pulling her with him. She wrapped her arm around his arm as they walked off together.

She was finally completely happy.

* * *

**A/N: Well folks, that only took four days to write. Again, this is my first NCIS story. So if it stunk, sorry. If people like it though, who knows. I might write another Tate story in the future. But for now, review!**

**Emily**

**Second note: Hello again. To all of those who have already read this and who might, I must adress a critical mistake I made. I don't know if anyone realized this, but I accidentaly wrote "Who's going to kill Gibbs". OOPS! I meant Tell, not kill. Sorry!**


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